


Instinct and Choice

by qwanderer



Series: Reborn Fox [6]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Abuse, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Braeden kicks ass, Breakups, Coercion, F/M, Justifiable Homicide, M/M, Pack Dynamics, Spoilers, Trust, Underage Kissing, Werefox Stiles, Werewolf Mates, also, obviously, relationships, the usual deal, this is basically just people talking about
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-21
Updated: 2015-09-26
Packaged: 2018-04-22 15:59:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4841618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/qwanderer/pseuds/qwanderer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stiles grimaced slightly. "Yeah, but... okay, you're my mate. If I'm yours, you've never said. I mean, to me. When you said it to my dad... I'm not practiced at picking up lies yet. But there was something funky with your heart."</p><p>if Stiles was honest with himself he really wanted an emphatic "Of course you are." But what he got was a pause, and... "It's complicated."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> As usual, there's some timeline overlap here. The first scene takes place between chapters 4 & 5 of Supermoon, then the second picks up where that story left off. The density of these timelines and the abundance of characters are killer to keep track of. I reread Supermoon to try and keep things straight and found an internal inconsistency that I might go back soon and fix.

Theo had been defeated, and the pack was once more relatively safe. The moon was setting, and everyone was going home. Well... mostly. 

Braeden trailed after Malia, knowing she was probably heading for her father's house. But she wasn't the only one heading in that direction. 

"Alan," she greeted with a somewhat pointed look. 

"You should sleep," Deaton said equally pointedly. "where are you staying?" 

"Got too much to do," she responded. "If I'm going to catch the Desert Wolf I need to stay on Malia." 

"You know it would have been easier if you'd left me with the Wolf. She wouldn't know that you're still after her. That you're involved with this pack." 

Braeden shoved her hands into her jacket pockets. "I've been waiting long enough to catch up to her. Let her catch up to me." 

"And alerting her that you're involved in this? Letting her prepare to face you? That's really what you wanted to do? Purely for your own reasons." 

She breathed out forcefully through her nose. "Saving you may have been... a favor to Marin." 

"You and my sister were never that close." 

"To Derek?" 

"We both know that Derek owes you a lot more than you owe him." 

"I left, and he stayed, and he went practically feral in the woods. Malia told me." 

"You had a job to do, and he had territory to protect. And it doesn't escape my notice that you decided to go after the Desert Wolf again once the Beacon Hills pack needed you to." Deaton watched her, eyes knowing and analytical. "So I'm left to wonder what would make you jeopardize that." 

Braeden's only answer to that was silence. 

Alan shrugged. "I've got the Nemeton plugged into my brain now, and let me tell you, I remember the Desert Wolf. I'll know if she comes into town. Now you, get some sleep." 

Braeden sighed, pulled a key out of her pocket. "I planned to crash at the loft the next time I was in town." 

Deaton inclined his head. "Derek won't be there. Not tonight." He watched her. "If that wouldn't bother you." 

"No reason for it to." She shrugged. "We weren't sentimental about each other. I knew I couldn't get invested in him. He needed... more. He needed someone to be kind to him. To save him. I always knew that wasn't exactly me." 

Deaton made a thoughtful noise. "Don't sell yourself short. But you're right about one thing. It was never your responsibility to save him from himself." 

"Thanks," said Braeden, and smiled a little. "You've got a phone? I already passed along my spare burner." 

"A land line should do it. I'll go straight home." 

"You'd better. You'd better keep safe. You'd better call me if anything feels off." 

Deaton just smiled at her, and went on his way. 

* * *

Hours later, Stiles and Derek left the Sheriff at his house and walked off, hand in hand, into the sunset light, rested and ready to face whatever was next. 

"So where are we headed?" Stiles asked eventually. "Where is everyone? Just remembered Theo totaled my phone. I hate being off the grid." 

Derek took a phone out of his jacket and wiggled it briefly. "Scott's at the hospital with his mom - they wanted to keep her a couple of days, but she's not in danger. The younger ones went in the direction of Hayden's house, I think. They wanted to keep an eye on Corey. I think everyone else went home." 

"Where'd that come from?" Stiles asked, frowning at the small, unassuming black phone. 

"Braeden had an extra burner." 

Stiles drew in a breath. "So she's back. That's a thing." 

"Stiles... we left things open, before she left. She didn't expect me to wait for her." 

Stiles grimaced slightly. "Yeah, but... okay, you're my mate. If I'm yours, you've never said. I mean, to me. When you said it to my dad... I'm not practiced at picking up lies yet. But there was something funky with your heart." 

if Stiles was honest with himself he really wanted an emphatic "Of course you are." But what he got was a pause, and... "It's complicated." 

"Is she?" 

"No," Derek said immediately. 

"Does she know that?" 

"Yeah. We were honest with each other. And I needed that. Everything's been murky." 

"You didn't have your senses," Stiles realized. "When you were with her. You were human." 

"Braeden had no reason to lie. We'd already paid her to get to... Kate. She never claimed to love me. That felt safer. Not having to worry if it was really love." 

"Huh," said Stiles. He resettled his hand inside Derek's, holding on. 

Derek took a breath before he continued. "Mates... they're not a yes-or-no thing. Paige could have been. I felt that tug with her. When it's a human, we can't know for sure. It's only a potential. The person has to be turned, to be sure. And even then, it's not always a once-in-a-lifetime. My aunt had two mates. Finding someone else was... always a possibility." 

Derek's hand started to tremble just slightly in Stiles's. "Then Kate... she did something to me. I thought I loved her. I felt like I loved her. The pull was there, but it was... wrong. Sick. But I thought maybe just what had happened with Paige... I thought that had messed me up, that I couldn't feel it right anymore." 

Stiles squeezed his hand hard. "Do you know what she did?" 

"I didn't even know it was magic until after she took me in Mexico. The magic she used there... it... tasted the same. Sick. Inside out." 

"So you haven't trusted the pull. For years." Stiles blew out a breath. "Shit. So when we met...." 

"I didn't trust the tug that told me the Alpha that bit Scott was Hale pack. It couldn't be. And you... there was something. I suspected, but I never wanted to push you. I pushed Paige... and Kate pushed me. Love makes... people do reckless things. But I didn't know any other way to be with people. Until Braeden. We talked about everything. We made sure everything was... mutually beneficial." 

"Sounds like a solid game plan." 

"Laura would have said it lacked romance and spontaneity." 

Stiles glanced sideways at him, smirking slightly. "Well, I tend to think romance is overrated, and I think our lives have just about enough spontaneity. So I'm going to let you know that any time you feel like kissing me, that would benefit me a lot. And everything else? We can work that out later. In detail. Because talking? About anything and everything? Figuring things out and going in with a plan? Kind of my specialty." 

Derek's feet stilled, and he looked suddenly like he was in pain, but not in a bad way, and Stiles wasn't even sure if that made sense, but it reminded him of the feeling of getting out of shackles and finally being able to stretch, the blood flowing back to stiff limbs. 

Their lives were insane, because that sensation came immediately and vividly to mind. 

"Hey, you okay?" he asked, stepping towards Derek. 

Derek raised his arms, and his hands touched down lightly on Stiles's shoulders, so lightly. "I'm going to be," he answered, and leaned in, placing a heartbreakingly slow, sweet kiss on Stiles's lips, then, not stopping but not pressing, he kissed his mate as if those lips were the only thing he needed in the world. 

Stiles made a hungry noise, and pulled Derek in, making things just a little deeper, just a little firmer, just a little closer. But his hands were light on Derek's waist, and there were no demands between them. 

Only warmth. 

* * *

"Hey, how are things?" Stiles smiled at Melissa in her hospital bed. "Are you being a terrible patient, Ms. McCall? If you are, I can tell you right now you learned from the best." 

"Nope. Nope. I am staying right here. Not gonna brush this off. Apparently there was internal bleeding, so... I'm setting a good example." 

Stiles smirked at her. "You hate it, though. You wanna get up and out and do stuff. I know it. I can read your mind with my fox voodoo." 

Melissa scoffed. "No, you can't," she said. "Now come here. Let me see you." 

"I'm not the one that got hurt last night," Stiles said, but he came anyway. 

"Honey," she said, " _everybody_ got hurt last night." She ran her fingers across Stiles's hair. "I know there were some close calls. How're you holding up?" 

He grit his teeth for a moment. "I don't think you wanna hear how bad it was when Scott went down," he said, "and I wasn't even there for the worst of it. But he's still here. And my dad's still kicking. So I'm pretty okay." 

"Okay," she echoed. "Just let me know if you need anything." 

"I'm almost positive that's my line," he told her, then turned to Scott. "How's the pack?" 

"Still haven't heard from everyone," he said. "Deaton called, he and Braeden are on their way. They want to make sure Malia's protected." 

"Malia's here?" 

"Yeah, she showed up about half an hour ago. Not sure where she went." Scott shrugged. "I'm just about to call the others, see where they're at." 

"I can check in with Malia," Stiles volunteered. 

"Are you sure?" Scott asked. 

"Nah... but I kinda think I should." 

Scott nodded, turning his attention to his phone. Derek took the vacated seat by Melissa's bedside. 

"I suddenly feel like I've got a guard worthy of Buckingham Palace," she joked at the werewolf, and Stiles chuckled to himself as he left the room to find Malia. 

Her scent was familiar, but he'd started to be conscious of it less, part respecting her privacy and part having other things to focus on. But he found her easily enough, once he tried. 

Malia paced in the hallway outside the wing that was now semipermanently under construction, what with one thing and another. 

"Hey," Stiles said. "What's shaking?" 

"What are you doing here?" she asked. 

"Well Scott's kinda checking in with the whole pack now that we've all gotten to rest. But he said you were here already." 

"I just... Scott's Alpha. And he's here, so...." Her heartbeat was all over the place. Jumping when she even thought about lying. It wasn't natural to her. But then it settled a little. "I just needed to come here. To see." 

"To see where it happened," Stiles agreed. "Where Theo trapped you." 

"And after that, I needed pack," she said, looking a little freaked out about it. "I don't like small spaces. Just seeing Scott made things better. I'm not used to things being that way." 

"Pack's a big change," he said. "Always is." 

"For bitten wolves, maybe, but I've been a shifter all my life. I kind of feel like I should at least have the animal parts of it down." 

Stiles fought the urge to hug her. His human mind really wasn't in agreement with his fox on this one. He knew she wasn't ready. But she smelled like distress, she needed pack. 

"Pack isn't just an animal thing, though," he told them both. "I've been Scott's pack for a long time." 

"It's so complicated," Malia said in frustration. "You were pack because you needed pack, but also because we could've been... but we aren't." 

"I'm sorry that was so sudden," he told her. 

"But it wasn't. Stiles, I was thinking about breaking up with you. But you hadn't taught me how to do that right yet." 

His face scrunched. "I don't think humans as a species have evolved that skill yet," he told her. 

"So you got bitten, and the coyote in me knew you weren't mine. That was simple, it was good. Clear-cut. For the human part of me? It still hurt." 

"Probably would've been simpler to figure out the pack stuff if we'd never dated, huh?" Stiles rubbed at the back of his neck. "

No," Malia said. "You're the only person who didn't look at me like I was crazy. Who tried to talk to me like I had some say in my own life, like I was capable of understanding more. But you still understood that I was used to being an animal. I needed you, for a while, and sometimes I hate that, but I can't run away from it. Because there's still a place in my head where you're pack and I need you. It's just... it's just really complicated." 

"Yeah," Stiles agreed. 

"Teaching me how to be human was hurting me too. I needed it. But it hurt me. Trying to learn everything about being human." 

"I didn't know everything," he told her. 

"But you knew enough. You knew enough that I can tell if you knew everything, it would have been worse. I tried so hard to be perfect." 

"Oh, 'Lia." He gave in to his fox, and hugged her. "You've always been perfect." 

She made a "hmph" sound. "You don't quite see the world the way other people do, do you?" 

"Nope," he agreed. "Come on. Our Alpha awaits." 

Scott really was waiting, eyes on them as soon as they came in the door. Stiles raised his eyebrows. "News?" he asked. 

"They're safe. They're at Hayden's. Mason and Liam stayed up in shifts making sure Corey and Hayden didn't stop breathing again while no one was looking. I should have thought of that." 

"We were all exhausted," Stiles reminded him. "Think you can be forgiven this time. What about Lyds?" 

"She's who I called first. She's over there now, helping them figure out if there's anything in our databases that maybe we can do for them." 

"Cool," said Stiles. "They're sticking there?" 

"Corey's not that comfortable with the hospital right now. And anyway, it's the two of you who are still being hunted, now, so it's probably safer for the former chimeras to stay away until we know they're okay to fight." 

Stiles grimaced. "Okay, true." He veered over to stand behind Derek, leaning his elbows on the werewolf's shoulders. "So maybe to be safe, we should stay away from vulnerable, gimpified humans too, huh?" 

"Hey!" Melissa objected. 

"It is my. Turn." Stiles told her unequivocally. 

Scott's face and scent had filled with guilt. "I wasn't here when she got hurt," he said. "That was a mistake, and I don't want it to happen again." 

"Hey, it's okay, we can stay," Stiles told him. "All of us have survived through a lot of shit going down in this hospital, and I'm sure we can again, if we need to." 

"That's not the point, though," Scott said. "I don't want to attract trouble here unless we have to. But I don't know if I'll be able to focus on anything else if we leave." 

"They've evacuated most of the patients, after all the trouble here yesterday," his mom told him. "If there's gonna be more trouble here, this is the time for it." 

"And," said Derek, "there's a difference between keeping your unknowns off the board and rallying around a known vulnerability. It's not a bad strategy." 

Stiles put his chin down on top of Derek's head and grinned up at Scott. "See? Thanks for disagreeing with me, Derek, that was a bad plan. It made our Alpha sad." 

Derek gave a quiet huff of a laugh, and reached up to pat one of Stiles's hands where it lay against his chest. 

Scott took a deep breath, then looked around the room. "All right," he said. "We'll stay here, until we know more." 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Previously this was marked both "no archive warnings" and "violence" because I wasn't sure which way it would head, but be warned - it has indeed taken a turn for the violent.

When Deaton and Braeden showed up, Scott and Deaton fell immediately into earnest conversation about the state of the town, the pack, and the animal clinic. Derek hovered near them, and Malia took the opportunity to slouch into the chair by Melissa's bedside, put her feet up on the bed, and begin complaining loudly about how she'd only recently gotten the hang of shaving, and how much harder it was to keep up with when the world kept almost ending without much of a break. 

Melissa turned out to be a very receptive and encouraging audience. Stiles, not so much, and he began to edge back out into the hallway when the conversation turned to the more involved aspects of female body upkeep. Not that Stiles wasn't curious about such things. But when it was his ex-girlfriend and surrogate mom, it was a little weird. 

"Hey," said Braeden. "Don't go too far. As I understand it, you're one of the pack's weak points right now, too." 

"Yeah, I'm aware of that," said Stiles. "But I've been human up until recently, and it still weirds me out a little to be able to overhear everyone's little personal conversations all the time. I mean it seems like that's just how pack is? But I'm still firmly in the adjustment period, here." 

Braeden laughed a little. "Must be something else. I know losing those senses, that awareness, hit Derek pretty hard." 

"Yeah," Stiles agreed. He fidgeted. "So, uh... I'm trying this new thing, like, actually talking to people? About things? Derek said you were good with that. Kind of like the pack thing where you can't help knowing everything about everybody you're close to, except, you know, on purpose. Anyway. This kinda sucks, you know? I never wanted to... get in the way. From what he's said, you were good together. But he said you told him from the beginning you weren't his mate." 

"Yeah." Braeden looked away slightly. "It was always gonna end. Didn't expect it to be this soon, but... that's how things are when you deal with werewolves. Moon rises one night, everything changes." 

"I'm sorry." 

Braeden shook her head. "No. Don't be. It was nice to have something to come home to, for a little bit, but I think part of me has belonged on the road for too long. Part of me's always going to be on the hunt." 

Stiles the werefox might not have been much good at focusing, but the fox did something in his favor here, at least. In waiting, in listening for the quarry to come out of its hole, he had a little more of an edge. So he was quiet. 

"Helping, instead of hunting, is something I hadn't done in way too long. Your pack pulled me in from way out on the edges. A case like the Desert Wolf... it eats up your life until there's nothing left for anything or anyone else." 

Stiles grimaced in sympathy. "Believe me, I've seen it. Dad's... he's usually good about it. But sometimes he's not. And Scott's dad? He got way down the rabbit hole. And then way down the bottle. Sometimes I think he was mostly gone already when he left." 

"Exactly," Braeden agreed. "I got right into one of those traps as soon as I joined the Marshals and I didn't have any family to pull me back. Which was okay with me, until the Marshals kicked me out and I didn't have anything anymore. No kind of structure to fit myself into. As much as I enjoy being the lone cowboy... and I really do... sometimes I just want to feel like there are people who need me more than the skills I sell." 

"They're good skills," Stiles offered. 

"Thanks." 

"But if you wanna keep being a loner, you'd better get out because you're starting to feel like pack." 

Braeden tilted her head to one side, frowning at him. "I can't tell whether you're trying to get me to leave, or trying to get me to stay." 

"To be honest, neither can I. But I'm really glad Derek had you when he did. I don't want to drag you down. So just... do what you have to do." 

"I'm gonna be straight with you, as long as I've spent sticking my nose in where it's not wanted in the supernatural world, I still really don't have much idea what it means to be pack." 

"I guess that's the thing," answered Stiles. "I can't explain it. But if you're meant to be pack? You will be." 

Braeden laughed, shaking her head, looking down. "Never thought I'd say this, but... that doesn't sound so bad." 

* * *

It was only a few minutes later that Deaton felt the Desert Wolf cross into the Nemeton's reach. 

"I'd recommend we move to the clinic," he told the others. "As far as I know, the Desert Wolf still follows the rules of shifters. She won't be able to get through the mountain ash barriers, and my supplies are there." 

Scott frowned at where his mother still lay in the bed. 

"Listen," said Stiles, "I'm a wild card here. We don't want the last chimera showing up while we're in the middle of dealing with the extremely violent werecoyote intent on murdering her offspring. So why don't I stay here with these guys, and Malia goes to the clinic with you and Braeden. You guys know the most about her anyway, right?" 

Deaton nodded. "It might be best to have a presence here anyway, in case the Chimera comes back to find more marrow." He looked to Scott. 

Scott was clearly fighting himself on the issue. "The two of you, do you think you can keep Malia safe?" he asked Braeden. 

"Just give me a chance," she answered. "I'm ready for this. I've been ready for this for years." 

"Don't count me out," Malia said. "I'm the creature of the night here. We can do this." 

"Okay," said Scott. "Go. Call if you need help." 

Malia nodded agreement, then lunged forward to hug Scott, who looked slightly shocked, but hugged her back warmly anyway. 

* * *

It turned out that the Desert Wolf was faster than Deaton's car. 

She shot out the tires, and when Malia stumbled out, confused and flashing back to her childhood, the Desert Wolf shot her. 

Malia lunged away and the bullet only clipped her in the calf, but it was wolfsbane, and she couldn't stand, she couldn't run. She huddled against a stone outcropping, watching as the Desert Wolf approached, eyes glowing blue. 

But then the older werecoyote stumbled, the earth under her feet shifting, flickering in and out. Deaton was suddenly at Malia's side, helping her up, and Braeden was covering their attacker with her gun. The Desert Wolf raised her own weapon, but her stance was unsteady, and Braeden tagged her in the shoulder before she could get a shot off. 

Then the human ducked under Malia's other shoulder, and the three of them ran for the clinic, Malia limping along as best she could. There were many sighs of relief as they reached the clinic, Deaton closing the office gate and completing the defensive circle. 

Braeden crouched to dig the bullet out while Deaton prepared the wolfsbane, and soon it was burning through Malia's veins, chasing the poison that it was a scorched shadow of. Soon Malia could breathe easy again. But she didn't have long to recover in peace. 

"She's coming," Deaton said before Malia could hear so much as a footfall outside. 

"She'll expect Malia to stay inside the defensive perimeter," Braeden whispered. "This is where she'll be focusing her attention. She didn't seem all that concerned with defending herself from me, before." 

"Still," said Deaton. "I'd like you to have all the advantages you can get." He reached for something on one of his shelves and pressed it into her hand. Suddenly she was eerily without scent, the sounds of her movement muted. Malia stared at her. Braeden just smirked in response, nodded an acknowledgement and went out the back just as the Wolf made her presence known in the parking lot. 

"I know you think you have to defend this girl," called the Desert Wolf. "I know you think she's pack. But the thing is, as long as she's alive, the pack's in danger. The whole world is in danger." 

Deaton stood, coming closer to the front of the building but not crossing the ash line. "I don't believe that," he answered calmly, knowing she'd hear. 

"Then you don't know what she is. You don't know what the Dread Doctors are capable of. She was created to be part of their experiments, and they can do terrible things with her. It's the best thing for her, too. She has to die because better that than the things the Dread Doctors will do to her." 

"They can't do anything to me," Malia growled. "We killed them." 

"You might think that," said the Wolf. "But the Nemeton's back. The thing that stopped me? it was their work." 

"The Nemeton is back," Deaton agreed in a voice that suddenly seemed to come from everywhere at once. "But it's bonded to me now." 

That made the Desert Wolf inhale sharply in surprise. She was quiet for a moment. "And that's better?" she asked at last. "You're continuing their work in one way, who's to say you won't in others? The secrets of immortality are a tempting pursuit." 

Deaton shook his head as he spoke, though he knew she wouldn't hear it. "They changed the rules. I'm simply adapting. I am what I always have been." 

"What are you?" she asked. "Who are you? What are the lines you won't cross? Who did you sacrifice? Because the Nemeton wouldn't have come back to full strength without a sacrifice." 

Malia spoke up again at that. "He's an ally. He protects the Pack. He only does what needs doing." 

The Desert Wolf laughed coldly. "I'm not risking everything on your word, my girl, when you're not even sure if that's true. You both need to die and I'll manage it sooner or later." 

"You won't get a chance," Braeden said, pressing a taser to her side. Once she was down, some very sturdy manacles were fastened around her wrists. 

"Where did you come from?" the Desert Wolf asked, still fighting to stay conscious. 

"We've got a few tricks up our sleeves," Braeden answered. "And he? Knows more about using the Nemeton's power than the Dread Doctors ever did." 

* * *

Scott jumped a little when his phone rang, as they were waiting anxiously for news, but it seemed too soon for anything good, and he quickly fumbled the phone out of his pocket. His face lightened immediately. "It's Kira," he said, grinning, before stepping out into the hall. 

Stiles waved him off, settling in next to Melissa. "So you and Malia had some good girl-bonding time?" he commented with a smirk. 

She frowned slightly. "I'm sorry, honey, I know I shouldn't be getting cozy with your ex. If it bothers you, I will stop." 

"No, no, it wasn't that, that was totally cool. That was all totally topic-based awkwardness." Stiles patted Melissa's hand. "She needs teachers who aren't me, especially about that stuff. She needs someone to go to, someone who's a mom, and you know, you're pretty much the best at that? At being someone to come to when someone need a mom without feeling like they're betraying the one they used to have. Because it's just what you do." 

Melissa smiled at him, eyes glistening. "Well," she said, "word on the street is, you're a pretty good person to come to if anyone needs a friend." 

Derek watched them both with a kind of awe, and just a little longing. 

Stiles noticed, and his face lit a bit with an idea. "Hey, so, if you're Scott's mom, and my unofficial, de facto mom, you're pretty much the pack's mom, right?" 

Melissa widened her eyes, intimidated, but chuckled a little, too. "I suppose I could be?" 

"So if, say, Derek ever needed Mom-type support, he could totally come to you, right?" 

"Of course," Melissa said quietly, understanding filling her eyes. 

"You're the best," Stiles told her, just above a whisper. Then he squeezed her hand and stood. "Think Scott's call's over. I'm gonna go see what the news is." 

This time, when Derek took the chair by the bedside, he did so with a kind of hesitant gravitation towards the woman in the bed, and Stiles gave her a grateful smile and a little "good luck" wave. 

In the hall, Scott's eyes twinkled when they met Stiles's, and Stiles remembered that his Alpha had a little more practice in listening to two different conversations at once. 

"How's Kira?" Stiles asked. It seemed like the news was, for once, not terrible, which was nice. 

"She's okay," Scott said. "Things were rough for a while but they got better kind of suddenly. On the Supermoon. You know how Theo was using the Dread Doctors' equipment to control Hayden? I kind of think they were affecting the bond between Kira and her fox the same way. When Liam smashed it, maybe that made things better for Kira." 

Stiles nodded. "I think I missed that part of the evening, but... sounds fun." 

"Yeah, you were pretty out of it by then." 

"Well, a lot happened," said Stiles, and there was a silence as they both considered how true that was. 

"So Theo's dead," said Scott. 

"Yeah." 

Scott grimaced. "Not sure how I feel about it." 

"Well I know how I feel," said Stiles. "It's fucking great. The magic tree's back, that asshole's never going to bother us again... yeah, all around, I'm pretty happy." 

"Deaton killed him. He stabbed him through the heart." 

Stiles looked pained. "Scott... my dad's killed people, okay. Derek's killed people. I've killed people. When we needed to. If this is going to be a problem for you...." 

"No! No, I just... to save your own life, yeah. After Hayden, I get that. To save someone else's. To save a _tree?_ " 

"To save a _town._ " 

They were silent for a long minute. 

"You think I cross too many lines defending the people I care about?" Stiles asked. 

"I think you're good at crossing lines," Scott began. "I think the way this town is we have to be. I know I've done things I wish I hadn't had to. And I'm pretty sure I will again. It's just... a lot to process. When someone you look up to a lot does something you didn't know they were capable of." 

"Yeah," Stiles agreed. 

"Things are just... a lot more complicated than they seemed when we were kids, you know?" 

"Yeah," Stiles said again, and his mind went back to mates and instincts. "You ever tell Kira she's not your mate?" 

Scott nodded, looking thoughtful. "I kind of made everything weird by not doing things in the right order or sending the right signals - I think I was kind of done with trying to flirt, after Allison - so she drew a line, Kira was like, 'you have to tell me where we stand.' I love her, okay? It's... really great. I wasn't sure what would happen. Kinda afraid it would ruin everything. But yeah, I told her." 

"Yeah, was it okay?" Stiles asked. 

Scott's eyes widened with remembered surprise. "She was relieved, actually. It's dangerous for kitsune. Their instincts are different, they're less part of the human mind of the person, if you see?" 

Stiles gave him a pointed look. "Yes, Scott, I am intimately acquainted with how fox spirits layer over human personalities." 

"Right. Well. So if we were mates, that would be an instinct in her fox that she couldn't just surrender to. She'd always have to be fighting it. Because she can't let the fox have free rein at all, ever. I think it's easier... for both of us... that we're just in love the way humans are." Scott chewed on the inside of his lip. "I know you becoming a shifter... I know that messed up a lot of simpler human things for people." 

Stiles frowned, looking up at the ceiling. "Not so much, actually," he said. "Nothing I needed. Nothing Braeden needed, either, I think. We ended up where we needed to be, I guess? What do you think of her maybe being part of the pack?" 

"Not if it would make you or Derek uncomfortable." 

"And if it wouldn't?" 

"Then yeah," Scott said, nodding. "Always useful to have another human in the pack." 

"Especially one that kickass. I think she'll do better than I did." 

"Stiles," Scott said, puppy eyes shining, "No human in the pack is ever gonna top you." 

Stiles's eyes widened, and he pressed his lips together hard, but he couldn't hold back the sniggering. "Oh my god, Scott," he said between spasms. 

Scott frowned. "What. What." 

"No human," Stiles clarified when he could breathe again. "Wolves, on the other hand...." 

Scott looked as if he'd swallowed a softball. "Holy shit, Stiles," he said, "I do not want to know." 

From over by the bed, there was a choking noise, and then the sound of Melissa asking, "are you okay, Derek?" 

Stiles shrugged, still laughing. "Sorry, man. I had to." 

Scott grinned despite himself, wide and happy. 

* * *

The others returned soon after that, only slightly worse for wear. Scott was glad (though slightly intimidated) to learn that the Desert Wolf wasn't dead, was in fact in Deaton's basement, restrained and heavily drugged, and that it would be up to him, as the local Alpha, to decide what to do with her. 

The hospital staff was mostly disinclined to kick the lot of them out for the night, even Braeden with her guns, because they trusted Melissa, and Melissa trusted her, so they all felt safer with her there. 

The fact that her teenage son had more firepower than she carried just lurking under his skin - well, that had practically become an open secret, in this small town. 

Malia slept off the last of her injury in the bed on the opposite side of the room, Scott stretched out next to her, at least able to trust the safety of his mother and Stiles to his pack to that extent. The rest of them stretched out on the floor or in the chairs, Stiles and Derek, as the best rested, taking first watch. 

The two of them sat together just inside the door, slumped against each other, quiet enough for the others to sleep but Stiles's constant fidgeting keeping them both awake. He prodded Derek, started thumb wars, played at chewing on his sleeve. 

It wasn't even midnight when Derek caught a renewed edge of that strange, animal-chemical-blood smell that had been painted across the hospital floor where Braeden shot the chimera. He stiffened under Stiles's hands. 

"Is it here?" Stiles stretched out his senses, caught the smell, and the sound of eerily uneven, heavy footsteps. He leapt up, going to Scott's side. "We have to get out of here, we can't let Melissa get in the middle of this." He shook Scott, who bolted upright. "It's here. We need to wake the others and go to meet it. Somewhere... not here." 

Scott growled, deep and gruff, and the others woke, hearing the call of their Alpha. 

"Malia, stay here," he ordered. "You've fought enough tonight, but if it comes down to it, you'll be the last line of defense for my mom, all right?" 

Malia nodded solemnly, rolling out of bed and stretching a little before taking up her place in the chair. 

Melissa sighed from her bed, where she'd been awakened too. "Be safe," she urged them all. It was Derek who nodded back as they trailed out. 

* * *

The chimera was strong, stronger than any they'd fought before. Besides Malia, only Braeden had any experience with it, and she'd only fought it at long range, so its strength was a surprise when Scott did tangle with it up close. The only reason Scott wasn't crushed was because the creature only had eyes for Stiles. It threw Scott aside, through a door, and started towards the werefox with eyes full of dead hunger. 

Derek attacked next, all teeth and claws and ferocious, determined blue eyes. The chunks he ripped out of the chimera slowed it some, but it tore at him with its own claws and spikes, and soon he was thrown aside as well. 

Braeden stood her ground in front of Stiles then, firing shot after shot into the creature's head and body, but it seemed to have gained resilience since the last time she fought it, or else it was just that much more determined to get to Stiles than it had been to fight Malia. Anyway, it kept coming, but Braeden stood, shooting, right up until it reached out and grabbed her gun arm, yanking her out of the way. 

It was an arm's length from Stiles when Deaton managed to distort the floor under its feet, making it sink and stumble. That bought enough time for Scott and Derek to get to their feet and lunge at the creature, one on each side, tearing its neck apart with two sets of fangs, separating the remains of its head from the remains of its body. 

When it finally fell, Stiles was still breathing hard, watching it twitch, as he intended to do right up until it stopped. But then Derek's arms were around him, his bloody muzzle sniffing at Stiles's neck, and Stiles let himself believe that he could take a breath. Scott could make sure. 

Deaton was crouched over Braeden, ripping open her sleeve and assessing the damage to her arm. "This is a pretty bad break," he told her. 

"Well, lucky enough, I'm in a hospital," she replied through her teeth. 

"You didn't have to do that," Alan chided her. "If Stiles is good at one thing, combat-wise, it's evading. He wasn't in imminent danger." 

"Yeah, but if it had gotten ahold of him, worse than this would've happened to him," she argued. 

Deaton's jaw was set as he examined the rest of her and gently braced her arm until they could get someone trained to treat humans to look at it. "You've changed," he told her quietly. 

Braeden, having made her way up to her knees, gave a half-shrug on her good side. "Things have changed. I found what I'd been looking for." 

"This is about more than the Desert Wolf," he objected, narrowing his eyes at her. 

Braeden just smiled at him. "Yeah, it is." 

Deaton hummed thoughtfully, offering her his arm as she stood. 

The pack hadn't just survived these past few days. They'd grown, too. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I can say now, with a certain degree of confidence, that I've discharged my responsibility to compensate for the fact that I pushed Melissa and Braeden a little bit out of their canon roles for this series.
> 
> I was contemplating doing a short fic after this about what's going on with the other half of the pack and showing Lydia teaching Mason how to use the Bestiary, but I couldn't think of what I wanted to accomplish, plot-wise or emotionally.
> 
> Anyway, the most likely next installment is probably going to be the "foxes mate in spring!" smut.


End file.
